Being Bisexual.

I came out to my mum a couple of days before I left for Korea. It was a pretty awkward conversation. "Uh, so, I'm bi." Followed with my mum having this 'ThisIsSoAwkward,WhyDoesThisAlwaysHappenToMe,MyChildIsInsane' face. I've always been pretty hush about it until now. If someone asked, I'd tell them, but besides that, it's not something I'd parade around. Since coming out to my mother, I've not issues with telling people, though. I don't care who knows, because I have all the reassurance I need knowing my mother accepts my choices even if she doesn't like it. It was hard explaining the whole "I prefer men, but I'm also sexually attracted to women" thing, but, I was happy to have such support. My friends had known, C. Love has always been supportive and she is herself, so we relate, then there is Adam who I think has a hard time grasping the concept at times "but you chose to marry me, so you're straight!" "Urm.. No." But he's never had an issue with it, which again, means a lot too me. I know my family will support me, which means so much too me, and I'm happy that I have that support. I'm lucky, because many homosexual and bisexual people are disowned because of their sexuality. I don't mind answering questions and explaining bisexuality to people, I just hate explaining it to the bigots. One bigotry remark I cannot stand is the word Faggot.

The word faggot is a terrible word to say to some, funny to others, like the word "retard." Adam uses Faggot a lot, sadly, and I try and explain to him countless times the reason I hate it is that faggot is used in a negative context, right? That's sorta like saying that homosexuals are wrong, subconsciously.

First, “the n-word,” which is almost never said or printed in it’s entirety, and rightfully so. I won’t print it here because of the hundreds of years of hatred, violence and soullessness attached to the word. Tell me I am giving the word too much power and I will tell you that you are not giving the word enough power. It is despicable, disgusting and never OK to use. Feel free to start conversations about who is allowed to use it and how the word changes when you put an “a” at the end instead of an “er,” but I take a hard line on this issue: Its use is simply unacceptable. I think most mainstream media agrees with me, when the future leaders of the Republican Party hurled the n-word at African American lawmakers, you would be hard pressed to find a respected media outlet that said or printed the full word.

However, the other hate word that was used that day was directed toward openly gay Congressman Barney Frank, and media’s treatment of that word runs the gamut. Numerous headlines read something like this: “'Ni**er,' 'Faggot' Shouted At Members Of Congress.” While many media outlets did use asterisks in the f-word, just as many others felt perfectly comfortable saying or printing the full word.

Am I offended? As Sarah Palin would say, “You Betcha!”

- GayRights.change